Patience. A virtue.
Selling a house is just stressful. Today we had a showing at 11 and they didn't leave until 12:30 (which we are hoping, being it's a third showing, that's a good sign) and then the wonderful professional cleaning service was scheduled to be at the house ... all of this is right smack dab in the middle of nap time.
DST has had him waking up at 8:30AM. Going down at 8, then up at 830, he isn't ready to nap until well after 2pm, and then he's not ready for bed until well after 7:30 so then the cycle repeats. Yesterday I had had a enough and we just kept him up. He was frighteningly okay without a nap, though he did go to bed early.
Today, he woke up on time (7AM) and we tried to nap at 2:30 after all the chaos was over. But he just rustled around. And by 3PM I said, nope, we'll just skip it and try again tomorrow.
By 4PM he was whiney.
By 5PM he was red eyed from rubbing them, and almost inconsolable emotionally. He wouldn't eat his dinner. I got the chair out and attached it back to the table and it helped and he ate. There's a video of him eating an oreo. You can see him stop to rub his eyes.
After dinner he was just a ball of emotion. He'd brush the wall and cry. His toy wouldn't do what he wanted to and he'd cry. His Daddy, not prone to emotion, was astounded. How long do temper tantrums last? I shook my head, these aren't temper, this is fatigue.
Now keep in mind I haven't sleep well in two days. I woke up two nights ago and 3AM and didn't go back to bed until 6. Then last night I woke up at 2AM and didn't fall back asleep until after 5. Not to mention I'm growing a human and I'm wound a little tight myself. But as with all things ... I dig deep for patience for Grady (Lewis and the dog, not so much).
Grady's tantrums make sense to me, in their own wierd way. Probably because I'm with him 24/7 and have been for the last 90 some odd weeks. I can tell when a tantrum is just stupid (and needs a time out to think about it, and calm down) and when a burst of emotion is because something in his world just isn't right, and he can't get it fixed.
For instance, I found this evening that it was crucial for everything to be his idea, and everything to be said very quietly, very slowly. Bath time? NO. (tears) Would you like to play with your cars in the tub? Okay. Once in the tub, when it was time to get out. Are you all done? Shakes head furiously, NO (sobs). Wait a beat. Wanna go read Buzz or Trucks? Stands up, Read Buzz. Then all wrapped like a burrito baby in his towel, as he practically falls asleep, his daddy comes in and starts talking too loud. He starts crying again. Everything had to be very quiet, very soothing. Nothing jarring.
It was sort of like dealing with a time bomb.
On the changer he didn't want pajamas, until I reminded him he could wear his fire truck pajamas, and then that was okay. Reading books was still okay because we were going to read Buzz.
A few other books and he's down and out, by 6:30. He even cuddled a few minutes after (he hadn't been doing that lately).
The point? I deserve a medal. I'm exhausted, we walked all over the neighborhood, played out back, played with our trains, stacked our cups, went to a friends house, played there, went to another friends house, played there. We even played out back with the hose! Most of that before the nap was attempted. I thought for sure that playing with the house and all that outside time and he'd just go quietly into the good nap. But no. So after all that, no nap for him (or me) and I still had to be on and entertain make him dinner, make us dinner, and grow a small human and try and sell a house.
I'm exhausted and I threw together some last minute patience and I deserve a medal. So here's my honorary medal to myself.
DST has had him waking up at 8:30AM. Going down at 8, then up at 830, he isn't ready to nap until well after 2pm, and then he's not ready for bed until well after 7:30 so then the cycle repeats. Yesterday I had had a enough and we just kept him up. He was frighteningly okay without a nap, though he did go to bed early.
Today, he woke up on time (7AM) and we tried to nap at 2:30 after all the chaos was over. But he just rustled around. And by 3PM I said, nope, we'll just skip it and try again tomorrow.
By 4PM he was whiney.
By 5PM he was red eyed from rubbing them, and almost inconsolable emotionally. He wouldn't eat his dinner. I got the chair out and attached it back to the table and it helped and he ate. There's a video of him eating an oreo. You can see him stop to rub his eyes.
After dinner he was just a ball of emotion. He'd brush the wall and cry. His toy wouldn't do what he wanted to and he'd cry. His Daddy, not prone to emotion, was astounded. How long do temper tantrums last? I shook my head, these aren't temper, this is fatigue.
Now keep in mind I haven't sleep well in two days. I woke up two nights ago and 3AM and didn't go back to bed until 6. Then last night I woke up at 2AM and didn't fall back asleep until after 5. Not to mention I'm growing a human and I'm wound a little tight myself. But as with all things ... I dig deep for patience for Grady (Lewis and the dog, not so much).
Grady's tantrums make sense to me, in their own wierd way. Probably because I'm with him 24/7 and have been for the last 90 some odd weeks. I can tell when a tantrum is just stupid (and needs a time out to think about it, and calm down) and when a burst of emotion is because something in his world just isn't right, and he can't get it fixed.
For instance, I found this evening that it was crucial for everything to be his idea, and everything to be said very quietly, very slowly. Bath time? NO. (tears) Would you like to play with your cars in the tub? Okay. Once in the tub, when it was time to get out. Are you all done? Shakes head furiously, NO (sobs). Wait a beat. Wanna go read Buzz or Trucks? Stands up, Read Buzz. Then all wrapped like a burrito baby in his towel, as he practically falls asleep, his daddy comes in and starts talking too loud. He starts crying again. Everything had to be very quiet, very soothing. Nothing jarring.
It was sort of like dealing with a time bomb.
On the changer he didn't want pajamas, until I reminded him he could wear his fire truck pajamas, and then that was okay. Reading books was still okay because we were going to read Buzz.
A few other books and he's down and out, by 6:30. He even cuddled a few minutes after (he hadn't been doing that lately).
The point? I deserve a medal. I'm exhausted, we walked all over the neighborhood, played out back, played with our trains, stacked our cups, went to a friends house, played there, went to another friends house, played there. We even played out back with the hose! Most of that before the nap was attempted. I thought for sure that playing with the house and all that outside time and he'd just go quietly into the good nap. But no. So after all that, no nap for him (or me) and I still had to be on and entertain make him dinner, make us dinner, and grow a small human and try and sell a house.
I'm exhausted and I threw together some last minute patience and I deserve a medal. So here's my honorary medal to myself.
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